The Beginner's Guide to Two Boxing

The Beginner's Guide to Two Boxing

What is two-boxing?

Simply put, two-boxing is playing two different characters simultaneously.

Why two-box?

There are numerous reasons why you might want to two-box. You might do it for the challenge. You might do it because some days you just can't face another PUG. You might do it because it's nice to have a group that always goes at the pace you prefer. Or maybe you want to play with more alts than you have time... there are myriad reasons why two-boxing can be a fun way to experience MMORPGs.

That said, I will give a nod to the "if you only want to play with yourself, why are you in a MMORPG" folks. Two-boxing is essentially a solo flight (more on this later), which goes against the fundamental concept of a MMORPG. Ideally, you shouldn't let two-boxing get in the way of normal grouping.

Ok, so what do I need to two-box?

Minimally, you just need two CoH/V accounts. (In theory, you could have one of each, but then the only two-boxing you'd be doing is a dance party in pocket D.) Generally, most two-boxers use two computers as well, but if you have a single machine beefy enough to run and display two sessions of CoH at once, more power to you (literally!)

Contrary to what you might think, you don't need a broadband connection to two-box... you can do just fine with a 56k dialup connection, although you may experience infrequent lag. Not significantly more than anyone else though. (Kudos to the developer in charge of the network code - good job!)

Isn't this against the EULA?

Absolutely not. As long as you are the sole user of both accounts, and as long as you are operating both characters, there's nothing wrong with two-boxing.

Now both those points are quite important: First, you have to be the sole user of both accounts - no borrowing a buddy's account to run your two box, that IS against the EULA and may get you banninated. Second, you must be operating both characters, using macros or other software to run one of your boxes (what is often referred to as UCM, for "unattended combat macroing"), is also against the EULA, and may result your being smitten with the banhammer. Note that these are the strictest possible interpretations of the EULA. Bans may or may not occur, your mileage may vary. Please use responsibly. Do not taunt happy fun ball.

Why is two-boxing for soloing? I want to group with both characters at once!

This will be a little long. Many two-boxers are proud of their skills, and feel that they can contribute to a group with both characters just fine. Unfortunately, they are both right and wrong, and more of the latter than the former.

*dons flame retardant suit*

At this point, some of them have stopped reading and started writing up flames. For the rest of you, here's the logic.

Let's assume that the average player has a skill of 1.0 (arbitrary units). Let's then posit that the range of player skill can range from -1.0 to 3.0. (Yes, some people are a net negative to the group, we've all seen em in PUGs, hehe.)

Now your two-boxer is going to fall somewhere in this range, while operating just one character... for argument, let's say he's one of the better players with a skill of 2.0. Now suppose this two-boxer starts up his second character. What do you suppose the skill of each character will be once he's running both?

Well, there's no way to know for sure... you could say each is running at 1.0, with each character getting half his time, but that's usually not the case, as the two-boxer can usually do better than that. He's leveraging off that fact that running one character doesn't take all of his attention. On the other hand, the true-blue two-box fanatic would like you to believe that he's running both at 2.0, and we all know that's just not true... he has to be splitting his attention to some degree in order to run the second box.

The critical point is, though, that no matter how good he is, he is less good at running two characters than he would be running just one. Now he might still be able to run two characters and operate them better than the average player can run one... but that's not the point - the point is that by running two characters, he is diluting his possible contribution to the group.

So, when it comes to grouping with your two-box, you cannot be giving your best contribution to the group by running two characters, you will always be a more valuable team-member just running one. It's a simple rule: two-boxing is for solo-only - anything else is disrespectful of the group.

Now I know some of you may find that a little strict, so if you must two-box in a group, always, always, always let your group know that this is what you're doing. And if you're being honest about it, let them know that whatever role(s) you're playing in the group, you might not be as good as they're expecting because you're running two boxes at once.

/end diatribe

And now, back to our program...

How do I get started?

Whoa there, hoss. Before you dive right in the deep end, let's talk about the different kinds of two-boxing.

Fundamentally, there are two main styles of two-boxing. The first, which I call 90/10 two-boxing is a style in which most of your time is spent controlling one character, and you only occasionally interact with the other character. The second is 50/50 two-boxing, in which you split your attention more evenly between two characters. Perhaps an example would help.

Here's an example of a classic 90/10 two-box: empath defender + ice tanker. You spend most of your time running the tanker - the defender is set to follow the tanker, and you set the defender's primary attack on auto-fire. As needed, you use your second keyboard to trigger off heals, buffs, secondary attacks, etc... (In theory, you could set the healing aura on auto-fire and ignore the rest of the empath defender completely, which would be more of a 100/0 two-box, I guess. But that would be beyond boring, eh? )

On the other hand, illusion controller + storm defender is a 50/50 two-box. To run this sort of combo you have to be nimbly switching your focus between both machines in order to get good performance out of both characters' powers.

Of course, to be accurate, there isn't really a sharp divide between the two types - it's more of a continuum. But for purposes of discussion, it's easier to just imagine that there are two distinct types.

Now in general, 90/10 two-boxing is easier than 50/50 two-boxing. The 90/10 two-box example I gave above is quite easy for a novice two-boxer to get used to, and I recommend that anyone new to two-boxing start with a 90/10 combo.

Ok, so you've sold me on this 90/10 deal, what's the first step?

Here's where you're going to have to invest some thought. While you were just running a single character, you could pretty much run anything and solo okay, for the first 30 levels, anyway. And if you've been playing a while, you probably realize that any duo combination is viable as long as both of you use tactics.

Some of that flies out the window when you two-box though. Since you're splitting your attention between two characters, you have to factor in that you're going to be less effective than a duo of two players. To put it another way, if you're an average player, you want to think about designing a two-box combination that two below-average players could succeed with - and that means thinking about how the two characters can best support each other.

Now if we take primary and secondary powersets into account, there are 17,205 possible two-box combinations in CoH (13,695 on the villain side), so we'd all be dead and gone if we tried to discuss each possibility in detail. So instead, let's look at broader strokes and look at the different AT two-box combos.

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COH
[*]Blaster-Blaster This is about as 50/50 as a two-box combo gets. You can either go with a pair of single target beasts and run-and-gun it, or go for a pair of AoE maniacs and hope you hit everything. In any event, not recommended for beginners.
[*]Blaster-Controller This can be either a 50/50 or a 90/10 combo. Since we're looking for a beginner's two-box, I'd recommend going with a controller set with a lot of control (Grav or Mind, for example), combined with a single target blaster. Your mode of operation would be to lock things down, while using focused fire from the blaster to take down the controller's targers. Alternatively, you can reverse the paradigm by building a support oriented controller (focusing early on the secondary), and pair it with a Blapper-type blaster build.
[*]Blaster-Defender Mainly a 90/10 combo, with the defender being the 10... Blaster or Blapper your way through the enemy with the support of your two-boxed defender. Most defender sets work fine here... Storm is a particular favorite of mine but more of an 80/20 deal, as Storm requires a lot of input.
[*]Blaster-Scrapper More of a 50/50 combo style, I don't recommend this for beginners either.
[*]Blaster-Tanker This is another good 90/10 combo that works with most of the available powersets - the basic tactic is to run the tank in, with taunt auras running, and have that be your 10... then the blaster can unload aggro free.
[*]Controller-Controller Umm, yeah. Moving on... This is a really weird combo, usually 50/50. You can run it 90/10 with a primary (controlling) controller and a secondary (support) controller, but it's not a lot of fun. Fun is subjective though.
[*]Controller-Defender See comments for the Controller-Controller combo above. This could go two ways, running the controller as primary, and using the defender for support, or using the controller as secondary, and using the defender in more of an offender role. Either way, it's not really a beginner's combo.
[*]Controller-Scrapper This is a good 90/10 combo, although it's a pity that scrappers don't auto-crit held targets (wrong game, sorry). Obviously, you'll be using the scrapper as your primary, and supporting with the controls and secondary powers from the controller. Unlike the following combo, you may or may not find aggro control to be an issue, so you might actually find yourself taking the scrapper taunt. This is not a bad thing.
[*]Controller-Tanker Very similar to Controller-Scrapper, except you trade off some damage for additional survivability in terms of better tanking and better aggro control.
[*]Defender-Defender Hmm, not a lot to say about this that's different from the Controller-Controller combo. The only way I'd try this one is as a defender-offender pair.
[*]Defender-Scrapper Another classic combo, most of the comments for Controller-Scrapper apply, although even more emphasis in terms of aggro control is necessary, as most defenders have no mechanism for it, leaving it all up to the Scrapper. That said, you have the advantage of the defender's blasts, which are much easier to employ on a secondary box than trying to use the holds of a controller. All of which makes this an even better choice for a beginner.
[*]Defender-Tanker As for Defender-Scrapper, again, but with better aggro control, which is a good thing (TM). This combo is probably the absolute easiest to start with.
[*]Scrapper-Scrapper You know that old canard about the ninjas flipping out and killing everyone? That's the Scrapper-Scrapper combo. Only for the seriously twitchy.
[*]Scrapper-Tanker This can be run in a 90/10 mode much like the Blaster-Tanker combo, but with the added bonus that both characters can run status-effect defense powers. For those who absolutely, positively, despise being held, this is a decent combo.
[*]Tanker-Tanker You'd probably want to end up running an offensive and a defensive tank if you wanted to 90/10 this... but why. This is one combo where 50/50 is the way to go, as it's unlikely you'd be defeated while looking at the other screen. Meatshield FTW!
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I'm not going to run through all the combos for the CoV archtypes, but instead I'll sketch some general outlines.

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COV
[*]Brute Brutes pretty much function somewhere between Scrappers and Tankers in a two-box combo, so pairing up with a Dominator or Corruptor makes a good 90/10 combo.
[*]Stalker Stalkers are a little difficult to two-box with, being somewhere between Blasters (hands down the hardest CoH two-box AT) and Scrappers. If you try to pair one up with a Corruptor, you'll probably end up trying to scrap a lot, and that's not the path to CoV nirvana. The same applies to a lesser degree with a Dominator, unless you're willing to go the way of the 50/50 two-box. Using the Brute as an aggro station is feasible, but in the end what you'll end up with is an inferior version of the Scrapper-Tanker two-box. The most intriguing possibility is with a Mastermind, sending in the pets, and then stalking your way through the ensuing chaos. But again, this is more of a 50/50 style.
[*]Mastermind Masterminds are an interesting two-box candidate, among other things being one of the few where running two of the same AT isn't plain silly. A pair of masterminds can generate enough pets to drown any enemy in bodies... although that's 50/50 style. You can get more of a 70/30 style by picking your secondaries carefully for ones that aren't used as much in combat... Pairing with other ATs - again, hard to get a true 90/10 style, Masterminds are just a bit too twitchy and their pets are just a bit too dumb Still, with judicious selection of secondary (e.g. Forcefield), they can pair up well with a Brute. A Corruptor for buffs/debuffs or Dominator for control can play well with a Mastermind too, but again, it's not quite the 90/10 care-free experience. Still, once you've a little two-box time under your belt, it's worth trying out.
[*]Dominator Dominators are not Controllers. Omm. /mantra. That said, for the purposes of building a two-box, they generally will fill the same slot as the Control part of Controller. With the added bonus of a damage secondary, they can also (to a limited extent) take the Blapper-type role - or maybe the Offender-type role. Hmm. Offinator?
[*]Corruptor Corruptors are not Defenders. Omm. /mantra. That said, for the purpose of building a two-box, they generally will fill the same slot as a Defender or Offender.
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So I've picked my AT's, now what?

Now you want to think about how the powersets of you characters will work together. For example, let's say you're going with a defender + melee character combo.

If you're building a defender to go with your SR scrapper, Force Field might be a good way to go, essentially capping the scrapper's defense and making him a serious tank. Or perhaps you'll go with Empathy, and use Fortitude for a similar effect, while getting benefit of the heals. At the same time, if you were pairing with an Ice tanker, you might not want a lot of heavy defense powers, since Ice tanks can get defense quite high on their own - instead, perhaps a resist heavy defender set like Sonic would be in order.

Also, you want to consider how much time you want to invest in controlling the second box. Sets like Force Field, Sonic, or Empathy are very low input sets. Sets like Storm or Kinetics... not so much. Needless to say, it helps if you've had experience with most or all of the power sets.

Travel powers are also something you may want to think about. If your two-box is going to be a dedicated team, it isn't necessary for you to get travel powers on both of them. Indeed, maneuvering two characters around town is one of the less entertaining things about two-boxing. Recall Friend is, indeed, your friend at times like these.

Getting Started.

Here are some general playing tips to help you get through your first hours:

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[*]Follow is your friend. By default, it's mapped to the F key and is a toggle - hit it once and your character will attempt to proceed in a straight line to it's target and dock. Hit it again and your character will stop moving. Hitting keys to move forward or backward will also break Follow-mode, but turning will not.
[*]Assist is your friend. If one of your characters has the other one targeted, any beneficial powers it uses will be used on the other character (assuming it's an Ally power, of course), and any inimical powers will be used on the other character's target. This allows you to use one character to buff or heal another, while both focus fire on a single target. This is a cornerstone of 90/10 two-boxing.
[*]Auto-fire is your friend. By control-clicking on a power, you can turn auto-fire on - this will cause that power to trigger whenever it has recharged. (Does not work for certain powers, most notably interruptable powers). By using this on one of your secondary box's attacks, you can be sure that the secondary character will always be contributing something no matter how busy you get on the primary character. N.B. If you decide to beat a retreat, make sure you de-target on your primary character, otherwise your secondary character will pause every few seconds to launch an attack at the pursuing hordes!
[*]/hide is your friend. Seriously. The instant you decide you can't get a group and fire up your two-box and get into a mission, you'll be inundated with folks asking to join your group. Never fails. And when you tell them "Sorry, I'm 2-boxing", you can just hear the glazed look through the Internet. Of course, now you can point them to this thread.
[*]Exemplar is your friend. If you're reading this, you probably already have some established characters, and you're looking to make two-box pairs with some of them. In which case, you've got two choices - exemplar down or sidekick up. But then, if you're beginning, you're second account character will be at level 1... exemplaring down is probably the best bet. Hey, look at it as an opportunity to farm prestige or some such.
[*]Sheesh, look at how many friends you got! Why do you need to two-box again?
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This is a very good guide! Well done!

Some possible sections in a future version:

* the role of KVM (really KM in this context) switches in a two boxing setup, and KVM vs. two keyboard/mouse combos (I use a KVM, and it's a drawback not to have the keyboard on the second box to hit AM or Dull Pain or whatnot without spending 3 seconds to switch back and forth)
* 90/10 folks should be aware that missions will increase linearly in difficulty, but your effectiveness will likely not. Just be ready for a challenge when you go into the door - your 90 character will be soloing 4-5 mobs on default difficulty, with the occasional support from your 10
* Double boxing is much faster in CoV than CoH. This is for two main reasons: 1) missions in CoV tend to be located in the same zone that the contact is in, and 2) CoV allows teammates to share mission completion. This means that you can make two level one characters, choose the same initial contact, and then level them up together in lock-step, sharing mission completion and generally moving at the same pace
* Recall Friend is very, very valuable for getting your 10 character around, not to mention the value in getting sidekicked 10s to a mission
* If you're using a higher level character as your 90, be aware that level restrictions can hinder your mission progression on the CoH side when they send you into hazard and trial zones.
* For 90/10 folks: don't overlook the value of having extra inspirations around. In fact, it might be a good idea to top off the 90's inspiration tray from the 10's any time it's not full, because the 90 is most likely to need them and be able to use them.
* If you're building characters explicitly to two-box, 10s (and to some degree 50s) benefit a lot from self toggle powers, ally toggle powers, and passive powers. Anything that doesn't require input from you or just needs to be turned on once is a good thing.

In that vein, some thoughts on CoV dual boxing, all from the 90/10 perspective:

Stalker/MM: This can go either way. If the Stalker is the 90, summon and buff the mastermind's pets. Set them to aggressive. Then just be a stalker. Drag the MM around and let his pets do their random aggro thing - this is the kind of chaos that stalkers love. Once pets have started fighting, you can run around assassinating their enemies. Sure, the pets aren't focusing fire and are doing other dumb unsupervised pet stuff, but they're keeping the mobs' attention and aggro while you turn them all into pez dispensers.

If the MM is the 90, then just set the stalker's biggest attack to auto (Assassin Strikes don't work, unfortunately - powers with interrupts can't be made auto), turn on his armors and Hide, and set him to follow. You then have a nice bodyguard - whenever you want to do some extra damage to somebody, drag your hidden stalker next to that mob, and watch the blood fly. It's often a crit, which is great. You can be active like this, or just use the stalker as an ace card if any mobs charge you.

Brute/MM: At level one I'd make the Brute the 90, especially if it has a damage aura or another way to build Rage fast. In two person missions with five mobs and Blazing Aura, you'll be surprised how fast Rage goes up, and suddenly you're one-shotting minions with your level 1 attack. Nice. After level 6 I'd consider making the Brute the 90 - level 6 is a big level for Masterminds - not only do they get a second pet, but both pets now get more attacks - it is almost a quadrupling of their offensive output. Use the Brute then the way you use a Stalker in the Stalker/MM section above.


Just a couple of more thoughts based on my experiences. Once more, great guide, Brillig (should I credit the slithy toves?).

Scrap

FYI: Product that allows one keyboard and mouse to operate multiple computers.

And a PC Mag review of it.

Great guide. It's just kinda jarring to see you end it with a question you answered in the beginning.

Specifically:

[ QUOTE ][*]Sheesh, look at how many friends you got! Why do you need to two-box again?

[/ QUOTE ]

[ QUOTE ]
...because some days you just can't face another PUG. You might do it because it's nice to have a group that always goes at the pace you prefer.

[/ QUOTE ]

Couple things:

- Multiboxing, like many things, gets easier with practice. I've done up to 8 at once (mostly in 90/10 fashion) in other games and if the game is slower paced, running a full group of 6 wasn't very difficult (since only 2 would typically be active).

- Complementary powersets can often improve each character's build. This is a no brainer, really. A friend of mine, when he opened a second account, rolled a kin defender. Guess what his main is? That's right, a stone tanker. It allowed him to shake up his build somewhat, gaining effectiveness in one area, without losing effectiveness anywhere else (at least that's what he says). When I decided to try a stone tanker, I made sure to roll her on the other account from my kin defender. Just in case.

- If you 2box in a PUG, you deserve whatever happens to you. If you think PUGs are bad when you're playing ONE character, good Lord, you don't want to imagine how bad they are when you're on two (or three or four).

- Get a friend to help you start Positron's TF and duo it. As chaotic as it can be at times (depending on your duo), it is a blast. Doing this will either make you swear off 2boxing forever or it'll get you so addicted to it that a half decent PUG will frustrate you (GOOD PUGs will make you forget you even have a second account.....sometimes).

Nowadays, I only 2box for badges (like Spelunker), mayhems/safeguards, and support (fire tanker with perma ID, squishy with sonic dispersion's benefits or clear mind or fortitude, etc. Buffbot basically, in DAoC style). Prior to the AV-&gt;EB change, I did Dr Vahz with a 19 fire/dev blaster and 21 MA/regen scrapper then again with that scrapper and a 20 DM/regen. I've found playing two scrappers pretty much requires a particular setup (for me, it's two monitors/keyboards side by side in front of me) but that might differ by playstyle.

Great guide though!

[ QUOTE ]
Great guide. It's just kinda jarring to see you end it with a question you answered in the beginning.

Specifically:

[ QUOTE ][*]Sheesh, look at how many friends you got! Why do you need to two-box again?

[/ QUOTE ]

[ QUOTE ]
...because some days you just can't face another PUG. You might do it because it's nice to have a group that always goes at the pace you prefer.

[/ QUOTE ]

[/ QUOTE ]
I believe he was referring to the five friends he'd just listed in the previous bullet points.

I had just made a 2 box guide when i found yours, so i will just add it on to your as a reply

Guide to Dual Boxing

WHAT is Dual Boxing
Dual boxing is using 2 computers (boxes) to play 2 characters (on 2 different accounts) in a MMORPG at the same time.

WHY Dual Boxing
Dual Boxing allows you to level 2 characters at the same time. (instant doubling of your leveling time)
Dual Boxing allows you to earn more XP per mission (even faster leveling)
Dual Boxing allows you to pick your teammate for the best synergy of powers. This allows for faster elimination of enemy, selecting higher difficulty rating, less character death and debt, even faster leveling. On a properly selected combo of ATs and powers I have averaged less than one death per level and have had a run of 10 levels without a death of either toon (set on invincible)

HOW to get started
Dual boxing obviously costs more as you need 2 computers, purchase 2 games and 2 accounts. For me it was no problem as I already had 2 computers capable of running the game and since this is my main source of entertainment and I spend over 40 hours a month playing it is more cost effective than renting or going to the movies.

Once you have the equipment, the games and signed up for 2 accounts you are ready to go. Be sure to set the screens close to each other so it is easy to see both at a glance. Also have each keyboard and mouse next to each other so you can reach from on to the other easily. Chose one computer/account/character to be the main toon (leader) and have that computer/screen keyboard/mouse directly in front of you. I then prefer to have my sidekick/partner computer to my right.

Log on and have your characters meet up. I usually start the 2 characters I am going to use at the same time, so I have them meet in the tutorial. If you have 2 existing characters move them one at a time (easiest) to a common location.

There are several important key binds to make you life much easier. Go to menu and then options, then key commands. This will show you a list of key binds. My preferences are
(in order from top down from the menu)
Auto run – h
Follow – f (this is the preset, I am just making sure you know it because you will be using it a lot)
Target nearest enemy – r
Target farthest enemy – y (this is useful for controller placing an AoE debuff so you kill the anchor last)
Target nearest friend – g
Target previous friend - v
I found these to be the most useful and best position to minimize hunting for the right key on the SK’s keyboard. Use the same on the main and the SK’s boards.

Macro/powerbar button positioning on the Sk’s keyboard is also important . I generally put attacks at 1,2,3 and holds, buffs, heals, etc next, with travel power toggle at 10.

Tactics
Once your toons are in the same location have them team up. If they are significantly separated in levels have the lower one SK up to the high. If the level is 2 or 3 below the lower player will benefit from more XP if he can survive.
The have the SK/partner target the leader (g) and then set to follow (f). You will be using the g/f button combo a lot.
This activates auto follow AND auto target.

Auto Follow makes getting around easy. You will soon learn how to avoid common follower traps. The sewers are the worst for this. The leader needs to pause in the middle or right before each door. Also take corners wide as the follower will cut the corner short/tight and tends to get caught or lag more. The worst situation is you enter a boss fight and the leader enters the room and the SK is stuck outside and is not assisting. You then spend precious time trying to get the SK in range and back to auto target and then you both go down real fast.

Try to take the same travel power or complimentary travel powers. It is possible to have the leader be the taxi and take the fast travel and then teleport friend. This can free up power slots on the SK to make them more effective sooner. At level 5 I always go to Kings Row and do the radio mission/safeguard to get the rocket pack ASAP and repeat again at level 10-11 to get the jump pack. With these 2 temporary travel powers used carefully I can avoid taking a permanent travel power until the mid 20s.

Auto target is so sweet because now every mob goes down twice as fast. If one toon is single target and the other AOE it is even batter, but more on this under AT/Power Combos.

Best AT/Power Combos (now this is the fun part)
All ATs and powersets have weakness and the best part of Dual Boxing is you can pick the partner to offset your toons weakness. These are a few examples of my favorite combos. Please add some of yours in your replies. I list them in the lead/partner format. Most of these combos can run on unyielding or invincible from lvl 12 onward. (at level 12 I get all my toons fully IO enhanced and skip the whole DO and SO process. At level 22 and 32 I upgrade them all again.)

Tank/Blaster
Now you are a Tankmage. Tanker leads, grabs the agro and the blaster kills them all. The tankers power choices at first should be his primary powers and slot them up first. His job is to grab aggro and survive. The tanker should pick 2 attacks only at first and save more until later. The blaster is good with Single target or AoE, and of course a mix is best.
I have Fire/fire tank with Fire/fire blaster mostly for theme, but of course this melts all before it. Ice/Em tank with Sonic/Ice is fun too. Be sure that each toon picks “heal other” and then say to your self “who needs a healor?”

Scrapper/Controller
My Favorite combo so far as been a Katana/Regen scrapper with a Fire/kin controller. The Katana attacks have +def for you and –def to enemy and all this is nicely boosted with Kin’s Siphon power damage boost and Speed boost to increase the recharge rate to “buzzsaw” After adding the fire imps the damage becomes crazy. Regen has a built in endurance enhancing power so I never have to stop and rest. The Fire/ also has some nice AoE controls (flashfire and cinders) to help keep the incoming damage mitigated. The trick is picking the right powers and slotting in the Fire/kin to keep the end usage low so it does not slow down the Kat/regen by having to stop and rest.

Defender/defender
I have a pair of Empath/sonics that have too much fun. The negative resistance of sonics stacks nicely with 2 of them. Then you add Fortitude on each other plus all the heals and you are approaching tank mage (massive ranged damage and you can not be killed). Make sure each toon picks all the leadership pools ASAP to maximize the pseudo tankmage phenomeon.

Mastermind/corruptor
What does every mastermind want more of? More pets of course. After level 6 the corruptor partner/SK is like a little assault bot. Why wait until the mid levels to have all that awesome fire power.

Mastermind/mastermind
This is a real test of who is the MASTER mastermind. Controlling that many pets is a mental workout. I have a Bots/FF and Thugs/dark combo. The FF keeps the defensively weak thugs alive longer and the thugs damage is awesome, add the dark debuffs and control and you are small army of invincible super killers.

Brute/Corruptor
Similar to Tank/blaster

Please add more of your combo ideas!

I don't see the point to paying extra for this.An extra account isn't cheap!

Thanks for the guide! Yet more 2inf: (in no particular order)

MM/MM: if you go thugs/thugs the enforcer buffs stack. It's evil in the best way.

I'm going to disagree about troller/troller duos. With buffing secondaries the buffs stack. I have a pair of fire/rad trollers that just roll through mishes. (Mini FRAD super team, anyone?) Granted, I'm not playing on highest difficulty because that was too much like playing with a bad PUG. For more excitement I play a fire/kin duo. I do play asymetrical duos(different ATs) like troller/scrapper but my experience is that the stacking buffs are just too sweet to deny.

BTW radio shack has a USB number pad that I park next to my main (90 in the ORP guide) for $15ish that makes the 50/50 play like 90/10. (well, really it's more like 80/20) Love the guides!

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I don't see the point to paying extra for this.An extra account isn't cheap!

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Then don't do it. In fact I'm not sure why you would even bother commenting.

An alternative to the KVM is a very handy program called "Synergy" (http://synergy2.sourceforge.net/)

If you're already locally networked, it's simple to set up and conserves a TON of desktop space.

Multi-tasking/ Multi-boxing nirvana.

So, it can't be done on the same account? Wow, that's gonna put a wrinkle in my entire thought process behind it. Plus, with the new Auto SK, I'm not sure what good I can see in it now (other than badgehunting).

Any way around this?

Hey great guide, I have been dual boxxing/tri boxxing for a while, it is alot of fun and has helped me play more because with kids it is hard to play on a team when I have to step away from the keyboard at a moments notice and very frequently. Also the whole Auto SK thing is honestly the greatest thing for me becuase now I can play any combination of my 100s of alts to find the best combos

my two favs= Stone Tank/with his Fire Kin Troller, and my SS/WP Brute followed by a Pain Dom/Merc and Bots/FF Masterminds(though that is easy mode set on super easy, great for Strike forces)

Great guide. I want to give you kudos for a very balanced and informative guide. While you did partially address it I think its really important to stress when it is and isn't appropriate to dual box. In my opinion, if you're soloing, if you're on a small team with friends, if you're farming, dual box away. Go nuts.

But if you're on a larger team or a TF then I think most people should strongly reconsider dualboxing. Even if they're some kind of gaming god octopus and can play 2 characters at the same time with the same level of skill as they would just one (I have yet to see anything beyond basic competency from someone dualboxing but that's another issue, heh), the fact is that they will take up 2 spots on the team and receive twice as many rewards as anyone else.

This is especially important on TFs because someone dualboxing will receive twice as many merits for the time spent, but more importantly someone else who might have wanted to join couldn't.

That's just my take on it. I think dualboxing is great and all and if I could stand to have an account without all the bells and whistles of my main one I would have gotten a second account long ago I just think it has a time and a place, and that people who already dualbox or who are thinking of starting should be mindful of that

Edit: wow Gibson you're right haha, I totally didn't even notice this was a thread from 2006. Wild.

~beats necro'd thread with a stick~

Ack!

Good guide though.

I pay both accounts my fiance and I have, but I've always been too lazy to log in a lowbie and go to her comp to farm with her character while I sit at the door and profit.

Guides are quite often necro'd with new information or a new question.

And now that we have permanent editing rights for our posts, I hope the OPs use that as an opportunity to revise the first post with the new information and clarifications that appear later in the thread.

Thought I might throw in my two inf on this.

I am a dual boxing addict. I've done lots of dual box soloing (dualing?) and also playing dual box combos as part of dedicated teams. I can't recommend it enough if you're looking for more challenge or something new out of the game.

My advice and to echo some of the comments from above:

Recall friend is almost mandatory. Get in on your main and port the 2nd around whenever necessary. This obviously helps getting to missions but even more importantly you'll be able to drag their sorry hide around within missions when they are doing the 'isn't this wall fascinating slo-mo run' for the n'th time. This has a side benefit of allowing you to not pick a travel power on the 2nd if you don't want to, leaving more room for other powers (I would however recommend getting a travel power for the times when some independence is useful).

Targeting the 2nd through the main and following will be the default for almost everything you do. Independent targeting is at best extremely difficult and when it come to positioning - forget it. This has certain consequences for the powers that work well in dual box situations and those that don't. Powers that require toon positioning or location placed powers are best avoided (in general) on the 2nd. I play on a desktop and a laptop with a separate mouse and keypad for the 2nd which makes the extra toon about as independent as you can do and still don't select much in the way of these powers.

I highly recommend binding powers to keys on both boxes. This was easy for me as I have always played this way when single boxing but I suggest you learn to like it if trying dual boxing. Control wise I have two positions - the first to move the main into position (and hence the 2nd on follow) and the second with one hand on each toons powers. Location placed powers break this up by requiring the grabbing of the appropriate mouse creating general confusion. If you learn the keymaps for them both you can fire off powers asymmetrically between them without looking down. This gives much greater flexibility and allows you to move away from 90/10 towards 60/40.

The above does have some effect on builds for the two toons that will take them away from what you might do for a single box toon. Grabbing recall friend on the main ties up a power pool pick and you’ll want it early in your build (lv6 ...) when things get pretty congested anyway. The leadership pool allows automatic stacking and doubling of effects (if worth taking on the AT’s you are playing) but the associated endurance drain needs to be managed. Also any toggle powers that provide team buffs are pretty much automatic picks. Building toons to reach certain caps can become much easier and cheaper – soft capping defence gets a head start if you stack two steamy mists and manoeuvres for example. If you want to hit perma hasten, stacking AM or having a kin follow your main spamming speed boost takes a chunk out of the set bonuses necessary.

You can also move away from the stacking and go for shoring up weaknesses of one toon by the other. A blaster followed by a heal/buff engine suddenly doesn’t have to stare death in the face each mob and can open up with much more abandon. A tank followed by a blaster doesn’t have to worry about damage and can slot out armours (note correct spelling ) and aggro management as much as necessary.

In terms of what works well together hopefully the above should have given you ideas. Personally I find controller/controller awesome on blueside and twin masterminds likewise on the other side of the fence. Twin controllers allows you to stack control powers (enough coverage and magnitude to control everything in the spawn) and buff/debuffs in the secondary. I lean more towards the squishy end of the AT’s so I may have bias here (having said which stacking can turn some previously squishy toons into something distinctly more solid). Two fire controllers = stunning flaming death, two plants = confused spawns ripped apart by many creepers (carrion creepers is a location placed power but on a longish recharge and absolutely worth it).

Twin masterminds is almost too easy. I’m sure there are clever tactics you can pull off playing a single MM with comprehensive key binds etc but when dual boxing I just put everything on aggressive follow and concentrate on stacking debuffs. To be honest who needs tactics when you have small army at your back? Roll twin thugs/dark ... You won’t regret it.

Basically almost any toon that is strong by itself will get stronger when there are two of them. The only thing to watch is where one instance of a powerset is strong enough to cover a particular aspect on its own. There is little point in stacking kin twice when a single kin can hit the damage cap. Likewise I can’t see the need for two forcefields or sonic res but I don’t have much experience with these powersets so I might be missing something.

Currently I am running plant/storm|plant/kin farmers, fire/kin|fire/cold more farmers, thugs/dark|thugs/dark, ice/fire(tank)|rad/fire pbaoe death machine, fire/elec(blaster)|emp/ice posi tf runners and my next project is levelling a pair of ill/rads for cheap AV and GM hunting (you don’t need to spend a couple of billion inf getting phantom army perma if you can throw out a second one ).

Ok enough rambling. Dual boxing is great – do it!

A modified version of Synergy is available on my website - it allows keystroke broadcasting so that eg. pressing 1 on the main computer fires off the power in both characters first power tray slot. Its also hard-coded to not broadcast the enter key to avoid accidentally spamming chat with the second character.

I've also got my bind files and a guide available, all in the link in my sig.

As for the extra $15/month being expensive?
Get out! Its less than the cost of eating out, or going out for drinks, or renting DVDs once per month.